Reflection
by solidtary-rose
Summary: I did all these foolish things...so that when i look into the mirror, I would see myself and not that killer she muttered with tears shinning in her sapphire eyes.... thanks for the guidance...my first fanfic
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: i SO do not own RK . 

_Blessed are the ignorant_

Chapter 1:

Tokyo

Sweet melodies filled the small dining area following each strum of the fingers on the koto. With a quiver of the last note, she rose from her sitting position and took a deep bow at her solemn audience. No applause and no cheers…business was to be discussed between the various shoguns and their samurais who together consisted her audience. Especially so in this war torn state of time in this dreaded country.

As she stepped past the curtains and out of the door she wondered if her music had managed to bring some amount of fleeting peace to these men. She shook her head free of her thoughts and sighed. Now was not the time to worry about such fools. Not when you have a couple of vampires on your back anyway.

Calmly, she left the house thanking the man who opened the door for her. She walked until the house was out of sight – in the woods and with a glowing blue orb from her right hand, transformed it into a bunch of small knieves and threw them skillful at the tree beside her.

"How long are you going to keep at this?" she demanded icily.

"Kamiya Kaoru, the hybrid…now why don't we…talk this over?" came a voice from behind the tree. Following which a group of men emerged from the shadows.

She glared at them...vampires …with only one sad desire, her powers. And she thought that they would all have learnt by now, considering the amount of their population she had wiped out. With a blue orb emerging from both her hands…screams resounded through the dark night.

Kyoto

"Another tried to take her powers" muttered Aoshi after reading an intelligence report he had received from the trusty pigeon of the oniwabashu.

A low chuckle was heard from across the room Aoshi was in; made by a man with flaming red hair and glittering amber eyes. "Fools," he muttered, "a hybrid with the blood of both a vampire prince and a fairy princess, hence inheriting unlimited powers would not lose or give in easily…otherwise there would be no game…no need for strategy." His lips curved into a cynical smile.

He craved …no needed her powers being born into an aristocratic family meant duties and living up to reputations. He had created his own, the fearsome Battousai - slayer of thousands. But such reputation had its price. People feared him and enemies were repent. Though a vampire replenishes his energy after rest, his powers are not like some unlimited rechargeable battery. They had their lifespan too were beginning to wear out and with as much enemies as there is air to breathe, he could not risk this weakness. Already he could feel the lost of little shards of his power after each intensive battle. He wanted his strength back and would not settle for less then or equal power nourishment.

"She would be in Kyoto soon…" Aoshi noted. Battousai smiled once again…everything was falling in place.

"Akebeko Tea House's famous koto performer…I am looking forward to its comforting music"

hehe first fanfic… pls do drop by some comments..thanx!

hmm..for those wondering what a koto is, it is a string instrument born around the fifth to third century B.C. in China. Originally it had only 5 strings but increased to 12 strings and then to 13. It was the 13-string _koto_ that was carried to Japan during the Nara period (710-794). Initially, it was performed in ensembles with other stringed and wind instruments, but eventually it came to be performed by itself. It's also commonly performed with the _shamisen_ and _shakuhachi_ or as accompaniment to songs. I happen to take music as a subject.

yup..this fanfic is set during the Bakamatsu period.


	2. Chapter 2

Here is a big thank you to all who have left me a review…thanks! Really sorry about the typing errors . …I promise to work on them!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own RK….otherwise there will be hardly any fun in improving the characters

Chap 2 up!

_Knowledge is power_

The cold silent night was a stark reminder to what had happened not too long ago. She had blood down her now slightly torn kimono and her traveling robe; to top it up the kimono was not hers and she had not escaped unhurt at all.

"I am back!" She called out as she slipped into the quiet tea house.

"Kaoru?" a woman said softly as she pushed up the curtain separating light from the nearby room from dark of the dinning area. She glanced at the black haired girl and sighed, "Kaoru…not another one…please…I can't aff-"

"It is ok Tae…please take it out of my pay…" Kaoru replied softly not wishing to add to her friend's worries, "I will bear Yuri-san's wrath."

Tae had been an excellent friend…more then anyone like her could have asked. Tae had taken her in from the streets, feed and sheltered her despite knowing what she is. In return she brought in the much difficult income which helped tide them over many trials. She moved pass Tae to return to her room when Tae tugged at her sleeve. "Kaoru…your wounds..."

"It is alright Tae… quite the normal really…I can handle them myself." She muttered with a small smile on her face. "The house keeper of the Nakamura said that payment would be sent in a weeks' time" and with that she left Tae standing by the curtain for the safety of solitude in her room.

"Don't forget next week's performance in the Watsuri house in _Kyoto_!" Tae called from outside her room and she made a sound of acknowledgment.

She carefully stripped not wishing for any more blood to be on the Kimono and more importantly for any piece of cloth to touch her already stinging flesh. Carefully she cleaned up the wounds with a piece of damp cloth which was always prepared in her room. She had grown accustomed to receiving wounds that she longed to have the ability of healing which all vampires and fairies have…strangely this little bit of DNA information never got passed to her. It really made her wonder about her mortality.

Several old wounds had reopened...she hadn't had the chance to properly heal them. When she was done tending to her wounds, she put on a sleeping yutaka (A/N: did I spell this correctly? . ) and pulled her hair out of the bun it had been for her performance before. She sat down before the mirror and sighed as she stared at her reflection.

Hair as dark as night itself…characteristic of Vampire royalty and yet eyes of rich innocent sapphire blue indicating fairy royalty combined with pinkish red lips and a pearly white complexion…what a whacked up person she is…

She shook her head free of the foolish ponders of what her life would be if she had not this weird blood mix churning in her and proceeded to blow off the candle she had lighted to tend to her wounds in hope of catching some amount of sleep.

The Battousai calmly shook off the blood staining his well crafted blade. There goes another squad. He thought. At this rate, it would be pretty soon that the war would be over simply because there is nothing left to kill…wait oh dear…people were things again.

It really couldn't be helped could it...foolish humans…fairies have not been doing a good job of keeping those things in place. Can't really blame them...ever since their little princess ran away with that Romeo prince of his, the finger pointing game just did not cease. The result, little humans running around trying to claim the world and vampires like him thriving. Ordinarily they would have just taken the weaker ones of the lot the strong ones… knew how to stay out of trouble and follow the absurd notion of fate which really was created by the fairies to keep them in line.

"Battousai- sama, Watsuri-sama wishes to speak to you…regarding the meeting next week in his hill top residence" a man spoke. When he spoke he shivered…frightened? Yes he was...more then anything. As the Battousai moved away from his spot he muttered to the man, "Inui…don't wet your self" and disappeared. "H-Hai"

The little meeting with his power generator…he could not wait…but he would not be the one sending his greetings. Tradition calls for a servant to send out greetings and if met with unpleasing response, only then does the master step out.

"Battousai! For the meeting next week, I really appreciate your idea of having that Koto player from Akebeko Tea House. Apparently Captain Fujiwara is a great fan of hers...he would come willingly" Watsuri said woth a cynical smile on his face. Ah…the beauty of intelligence...very much a double edge sword actually...but when used correctly a deathly weapon. "Now...how to convince that person so that he can not but accept our proposition" began Watsuri and the Battousai folded his legs to sit down beside his 'head'.

"Indeed how do I convince her...to out her in the position that she can not but accept my proposition?" he thought. He smiled inwardly when he found the answer…the only reason why someone would do crazy and foolish things for another.

As usual...please drop comments! thanx!


	3. Author's Note some clarifications

Really sorry people!

I m currently being **engulfed** in a mountain's worth of work…got university entry exams at then end of the year

. 

so I **will not** be updating this little fanfic of mine anytime soon…my apologies to all who have enjoyed it so far….don't worry I won't give up on it thanks for the support so far!

for those who are curious, I intend to study law at Oxford University…hopefully I can get in!

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to clarify a few things:

thus far Kaoru is a hybrid born to a fairy mother n a vampire father thus possessing an almost limitless power. Both are royalty. Hence creating a mass disruption and unhappiness as there is unspoken rivalry between the 2 groups. She is being hated and hunted for both her powers and for disrupting the balance.

Kenshin is a vampire noble…currently working under the human commander of the Ishin Shi to strengthen himself….is running low in powers as vampires' powers work like rechargeable batteries….put it simply...his rechargeable battery is approaching the end if its lifespan…he needs a new one. This is so as he wears his powers out frequently in fights and battles thus earning his reputation as a slayer and this title Battousai

The notion of fairies and vampires and humans:

Ok…fairies govern the way humans live their lives. These rules are known as 'fate' so by abiding to fate is to follow the rules set out by the fairies for each human. With large populations n limited amount of fairies to govern each one, a control is implemented over this population growth in the form of Vampires. Hence a subtle balance between the two groups with humans caught in the middle. Those who defy fate, or have weak constitution due to a lack of fairy guidance from the food source for the Vampires.

Now, vampires are well pretty much the usual blood suckers but these ones can walk around in the day and well can hide their fangs. Vampires are indistinguishable, visually, from humans.

Fairies look similar to humans except they pointy ears. The live in the clouds and have everlasting life. On average, only 1 fairy is born in every 500 years. So it is no surprise why they can't manage the humans.

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I hope everything is clearer now! do drop a review if it is still very blur to you... i will try my best to clarify them…once again a big thank you to all of you out there!


	4. Chapter 3

Really sorry for taking this long to update! I have been busy recently enjoying my newly acquired freedom I am currently in the process of settling my arrangements to the university…pls do understand!

Chapter 3

Yuri was furious not only was her kimono returned in shreds it also had the foul smell of blood all over it. Angrily, she tossed the worthless garment aside. Why had she offered to lend that kamiya girl her kimono? Honestly, which bone in her brain hatched the idea of having _her_ owe a favor? If she had known the consequences of her actions she would probably required at least 10 shots of sakae to allow such rentals anymore. Many have warned her about lending the kamiya girl anything…it was not that Yuri choose to ignore it out of good faith but because she needed a male, more importantly a rich male and that kamiya girl with her blasted koto was getting all the invites to their meetings. A gamble she took that the girl would be eternally grateful to her and pull her into these meetings so that she may achieve her ultimate goal, a danna.

That blasted kamiya wretch had not only been invited to Captain Fujiwara's party filled with rich powerful men, she had on the context of regret over the state of the kimono, promised never to bother Yuri ever again after paying fully for the wrecked gament. Damn those wretches!

Yuri was a geisha or still is at this point of time, she had lost a grand total of 5 dannas thanks to the war. Rumours were beginning to spread of her being cursed and men shunned her. After all, with the war going on and rape rampant who needed to pay to see her or even sacrifice much needed wealth to maintain her life as a geisha? At the knock of her shoji door, she immediately jumped out of her gloomy mood. A guest? She pulled the shoji door back with so much force that the door bounced back upon reaching the ends of the wall.

There stood a man, with jet black hair and green eyes, 'a male' she thought happily.

"Ms Yuri?" he enquired.

"Yes?" she replied testily unsure of what he wanted. He was dressed quite simply wearing a male kimono and clutching a blade in one hand.

"I have a few questions regarding Ms Kamiya, if I may step in? I assure you your time would not be wasted" he muttered with an uncaring look on his face and promptly stepping in and sliding the door close.

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_2 weeks later_

Kaoru was exhausted. She had been practicing a recently composed piece for Captain Fujiwara's meeting the whole morning. Those stupid rebels! What did they think she was? A music box? They had just sent a messenger barely 2 weeks ago to tell her to perform for them tonight with 3 newly composed songs. Failure to do so is punishable act by death for she knows 'vital' information regarding their whereabouts. She fumed silently, her life held little value and she would have jolly well tell them off and perhaps serve them a dosage of steel if the whole teahouse was not involved.

She clenched her fist tightly for a few moments to allow her fury to pass and released a sigh after it had gone.

"Kaoru?" came Tae's concerned voice. Kaoru's head bolted up to see Tae. "It is time to get ready, the escort will be coming soon" she murmured. Kaoru nodded her head in understanding and got up to bathe.

As soon as she emerged from the bath in the under-layering of the kimono, she was hushed into her room where Tae proceeded to help her do up her make up and wear the kimono proper.

The kimono had been provided by the host of the meeting and her make up kept simple to merely a slight blush on her cheeks to provide a pinkish hue and red lipstick. No others were added to her face as the teahouse could not afford it but she looked charming just like that.

She stepped out of the tea house to see her escort waiting by the tree outside the tea house. They bowed to each other silently out of respect and she trailed behind him as they set off to their journey.

Kaoru fervently prayed that no attacks came her way tonight; otherwise that poor escort of hers will die in a rather unconventional way, away from the battle field.

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Through the clouds a middle aged man stood watching over Kaoru as she made her way.

"Kamiya!" boomed a voice behind him. He turned to see his king coming up to the parted cloud where he looked down to see the world below. His king took a glance below to see the world beneath his feet.

Giving the middle aged man a cold calculating stare the king muttered, "Do not interfere, her fate is no longer yours to guide but the councils. An abdicated king should tread within his rights." With that he left the middle aged man alone.

The middle aged man nodded in understanding and looked down at the young girl walking in the world below with sadness.

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Kenshin shifted his position, he had very little patience with fools and the bunch sitting across of him was acting in a manner that was screaming to have their throats slit. Being faced with such idiots and not being able to end their miserable existence is highly annoying. What kept him waiting was_ her_ – the famous koto player.

"My brothers!" declared Captain Fujiwara, "Let's put aside all hostility for the moment and enjoy the peace of music. Perhaps after we have calmed ourselves down we can find a compromise benefiting all!"

Kenshin shifted his position yet again to face the centre of the room where a koto was carried out and a young girl followed. 'Her' he thought. The rough portrait he received from the man with jet black hair and green eyes had done little to convey her true beauty. He smiled silently to himself, now was to have a little 'meet the people' session after the performance.

Ok...I shall stop here for now, my parents don't really approve of fanfics . so I have been doing this without their knowledge hehe…this is what happens when u are away from the dormitory.

Rest assure that kenshin and kaoru would meet in the next chapter (which should be up soon if I m not still tied up with uni admin stuff) and a fight scene would also be up.


	5. Chapter 5

Ok… I am finally updating again after being gone for so long. Really sorry but I have been busy sorting myself.

Chapter 4: One Last Performance

As Kaoru entered the performance hall her face was kept perfectly blank and her ki carefully hidden. For a meeting between 2 teams of the common side, tensions were unusually high. Each man was watching his counterpart with such vigour that no movement would go uncalculated, unnoticed or brushed aside as accidental. Settling down, she waited for the signal to begin whilst attempting to ignore the fierce amber eyes that eyed her – almost as though it expected her to spring up an attack him. But why? Did he know of her as not any kotou player?

Keeping her eyes on her fingers strumming the kotou, she began her specially composed melody; strumming each note right while the men fought their silent battle. The tiny beginnings of war are always fraught with uncertainty between both sides and within both sides. It has rumored that the Ishin Shi had recruited supernatural beings – vampires in their forces to combat the Shogunate's fiercely loyal and strong samurais. With a history of discord and distrust between humans and the vampires it is a no wonder these men are behaving the way they are. Of course, such an alliance can be avoided if you are prepared to be slaughtered in the most painful manner within a time span of a day.

She should have never taken up the offer. There were too many complications that could arise from one simple performance but the money made would tide Tae and the tea house through this rough patch of time. At least for as long as the inflation caused by fears of war remained in check.

The amber eyes never went away and her sixth sense was tingling. He Knew. It would be the most likely reason behind his continuous attention to her. He was blatantly ignoring the man who was eyeing him! She felt a shiver run down her spine and stared down and hard at her Kotou she would not look him in the eye. It would most likely rain blood again if he did not stop at just looking at her. As she ran across theories in her mind on how to get away or if need be kill him she felt the presence of foreign ki.

Every male's head turned towards the doors, ceilings and walls in an attempt the guess where the intruders would enter. Their hands gripping their swords ready to unsheathe their trusted blade; wordlessly they shoved her away uncaring for her safety whilst giving her glares. The fools actually suspect her of bringing samurai idiots? If she hadn't been in such a predicament she would have laughed out loud at their stupidity. Being unable to leave the hall she drew to the corner of the hall, her eyes closed and she pretended to cower in fear; slipping into the role of a helpless maiden, she waited for the Shogunate's samurais to burst in and so create mayhem for her to hopefully slip through without much trouble and damage to the kimono.

They were taking long but it finally happened. The falling of the shoji doors marked entry and she calmly slipped through, taking advantage of the samurai's sense of chivalry. It was too dangerous to reveal her fighting from in an area half filled with vampires. Then she felt once again as she fled to the garden, those amber eyes as they slit through every single organic being to reach her back.

Immediately recognizing the threat, Kaoru immediately formed a katana in her right hand just in time to meet his blow. As her eyes rose pass their swords to meet his, she saw determination ans as the sides of his lip curled to from an arrogant smirk, she immediately formed a bunch of small knives in a blue orb above her head and shot them with her mind at him.

He dodged barely and held an amused look on his face while he uttered one word, "fairy". Having a considerable distance between them now, she dissolved the katana in favor of a bow and arrow and as he began to move she shot numerous arrows which burst into flames with explosive force upon contact. This resulted in increased chaos as the building caught fire yet battles reigned on. While one managed to graze his leg, she was forced to block his attack once again with the empty bow. A moment later and she would have lost her right arm. Forming an arrow upon pulling the bow string, she attempted to shoot him again but he simply moved his body away from her firing range while keeping is sword connected to her bow.

He was fast, too fast for her to keep up with in this form. She would regret this move later but for now she had no other choice. His skills with the katana would out match hers easily, she had known this the moment she had caught his blade. Transforming into her vampire form would allow for more speed and agility but it also meant her being more susceptible to the effects of blood lost. Biting her lower lip, she transformed, changing her raven hair to deep purple and eyes from sapphire blue to blood red. She lashed at him with her empty bow and long nails.

She was moving much quickly now, he noted but it was not something he could not keep up with. After all, the speed he showed her thus far was only a tenth of his true potential. Their weapons clashed repeatedly and Kaoru had been forced to revert to using the katana as she fought. With higher agility, she was able to take advantage of the gaps between his attacks and managed to slash him on his left arm.

He cursed; no one would inflict a wound on him. He was angry…play-time would stop now. He caught her blade when she tried to exploit the opening available between attacks and watched her eyes widen in realization and in shock as he radiated deathly ki which was never present before. 'He is getting serious only now?' She thought, 'that means...all this time he was…'

With a further clash of blades, she was suddenly flung against a tree with multiple wounds on her left arm, legs and sides.

'Playing with me'

Using small knives once again like before to stagger him a little while she recovered from her blow and the shock. Many of her old wounds had reopened again on that one fling and she cursed. Blood was flowing profusely creating channels on her arms and legs. She raised her blade against him, who was no standing a mere foot away from her. She knew a losing battle when she saw one she would go down in a fight, she promised herself that barely a year ago during the incident with the fairies.

She charged at him, absorbing his blows with her sword, dodging each attack barely and as the battle went on her movement slowed to the point she was barely dodging the attacks in time to avoid more cuts. His attacks slowed down as though watching her, waiting for her to give up and perhaps faint from the blood lost which she could not sustain in her vampire form. She had no other how she had sustained herself despite returning to her usual form which reduced her speed. Eventually the chaos around them begun to fade away – began to go under control. Taking advantage of his moment of inattentiveness, she hit him to the ground with her sword hilt and dissipated into little sparkles which flew off.

Battousai cursed as he stood from the ground and glared in the direction the little sparkles had taken. She had proven to be an interesting rival. Brushing his hand down his gi to rid it of dust he smiled. Now, a little welcome wagon would be on its way to pick up a rather broken girl.

"Himura!" called Captain Fujiwara

"Hai"

"Return to base, that bloody kotou player had some idiotic samurai tail her here…untrustworthy bitch…see to it that she is killed or captured. Preferably the first".

With that Captain Fujiwara walked away. Battousai rolled his eyes uncaringly; that little attack was his doing…well no entirely. All he did was to have Aoshi drop this little info to the nationalistic geisha's ear during his visit. Yuri's desperation to secure a danna had been vital. Also, there was this little thing about Kaoru being there. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Kaoru stumbled by the trees that led up to the tea house her ki still carefully hidden. Flying took up much energy which was the primary reason why she does not employ the technique in combats. She cursed herself for her carelessness. Suddenly sensing foreign ki, she reverted back to the form of little sparkles and took to the sky to observe from up there.

Then she saw blood flowing out from the tea house as 2 males left. One with long brown hair carrying a katana and the other with short jet black hair carrying an extremely long sword which she suspected was actually 2 kodachis. As anger and pain overwhelmed her she swooped down, beginning to take on her human form when Tae's bloody hand reached out for the man with long brown hair. This stalled her movements as she watched her friend drag herself on the floor so that her chin would be at the man's heel. With a faint voice she begged, "Let her go please…she's…she's…a…gen...tle…urgh"

"Keep it for hell" he muttered with a look of pure disgust on his face as he unsheathed his sword to stab her in the heart, this time twisting the sword around before removing it and kicking her hand away.

Tae gurgled on her own blood and as she began to fade she spotted the familiar sparkles. With the last of her strength, she twitched her hand in an attempt to wave the sparkles away with a small smile on her face.

Both men turned to the direction the dead woman was staring at. But all they saw were stars in the cloudless night.

"I was expecting her to attack"

Yay on chapter down! Please let me know how you feel about this chapter and the story so far. Really appreciate it! Thanks!


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